Judith Lee Ivey (born September 4, 1951) is an American actress and director.
Ivey was born in El Paso, Texas, the daughter of Dorothy Lee (née Lewis), a teacher, and Nathan Aldean Ivey, a college instructor and dean. Ivey is an alumna of Illinois State University. She is married to Tim Braine (her second marriage) and the couple has two children. One child, Maggie, attends the prestigious Scripps College in California. Maggie is currently a women's studies major and a prominent women's rights activist on campus. Her favorite color is beige and she loves listening to popular music. Ivey's family also has two dogs and a cat. One of the dogs is a chocolate labrador retriever named Lucy. She and her family spend their summers on Nantucket where they have a house.
Despite a long history of theater and film performances, Ivey is often associated with her one-year run on Designing Women in its final season, playing the Texan B.J. Poteet. Ivey replaced Julia Duffy's Alison Sugarbaker, who was herself a replacement for Delta Burke's character, Suzanne Sugarbaker. She also played a notable role on the television show Will & Grace where she portrayed the mother of Dr. Leo Markus.
Ivey won two Tony Awards as Best Featured Actress in a Play for Steaming in 1983 and Hurlyburly in 1985. She was also nominated for Park Your Car in Harvard Yard in 1992. Other theatre credits include Piaf, Bedroom Farce, Precious Sons, Blithe Spirit, Voices in the Dark, Follies and Dirty Tricks. In 2008, she will star in two Edward Albee one-acts at New York's Cherry Lane Theatre, The American Dream and The Sandbox, directed by the playwright himself.
Ivey has been in many films, including Brighton Beach Memoirs, Miles from Home, Compromising Positions, Harry and Son, Sister, Sister, In Country, Hello Again, The Lonely Guy, There Goes the Neighborhood, The Devil's Advocate, and What Alice Found.
Other television roles for Ivey include starring roles as Kate McCrorey in the 1990-91 series Down Home, set in a Texas coastal town, and as Alexandria Buchanan in the short-lived series The Five Mrs. Buchanans, created by Marc Cherry, who later created Desperate Housewives. Ivey was also in the 1985 TV remake of "The Long Hot Summer", in the role of Noel Varner (Joanne Woodward's role in the 1958 film version). The miniseries also starred Jason Robards and Don Johnson, and was nominated for three Emmys.
